The mica plate burned out in the microwave. What can I replace?

The microwave oven has become an indispensable assistant in the kitchen. It facilitates the heating of food, minimizing your time and household chores. Many modern models perform additional functions: thawing and cooking products (jacket potatoes, fresh and frozen vegetables). It can be used to quickly and easily serve grilled dishes. This is all of course good, but such a technique may fail. If the microwave is cracking and sparking, then you need to change the mica plate, which disabled the device. We will tell you how to do this quickly in our article.

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The importance of mica plate

What is a mica plate? It is a small rectangle that is made of special heat-resistant material or food-grade plastic. It is this part that catches the electric waves, then reflects them outward, due to which the food is heated inside the device.

What role does the mica panel play in a microwave oven?

• The functioning of the entire microwave oven depends on this small detail.
• Thanks to it, other parts of the microwave are able to withstand the high temperature of heating.
• It is a kind of protection of the internal parts of the device from the ingress of grease, dirt, food.
• Thanks to the mica shutter, microwaves are accurately and evenly distributed, that is, over the entire area of ​​the dish.
• A healthy item quickly heats food, in contrast to a malfunctioning one, which can warm it for a long time.
• Helps meet your expectations for the quality of the prepared dishes. Their appearance and consistency will correspond exactly to the given function.

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Reasons for replacing mica

Failure of a magnetron or waveguide can cause damage to the microwave oven. So, let's figure out what signs directly indicate a mica plate breakdown, and not about the failure of microwave parts:

• The surface of the flap has turned dark or spots have formed on it.
• Its surface was covered with a layer of fat or deformed.
• If there are scratches on the reflective platecracks, chips, signs of soaking or shedding of material.
• When the microwave oven is idlingthen breakdowns form on the surface of the heating panel. This happens when using a microwave device with a small amount of food - less than 100 grams. So, with their further heating, they increase many times, after which the plate simply burns out.

If any of the above signs of mica plate integrity is detected, it is necessary to replace this part as soon as possible.

Important! The main reason for microwave mica burning is considered to be the ingress of heated products onto the screened surface of the part (waveguide cover). So, the remnants of food and drops of fat that fall on the plate will absorb the radiated energy, and then heat up. As a result, a short circuit will occur between the mica panel and the magnetron antenna. In this case, it is necessary to completely replace the magnetron, the waveguide cover and clean the chamber with mild detergents.Twami.

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Material selection - basic criteria

So, if the mica plate burned in the microwave, then you should have a question: what and how to replace it with? It is extremely important to understand that the material you have chosen must meet the following indicators:

• Must pass steam well.
• Should not accumulate electricity in itself.
• It should not melt or emit toxic substances under the influence of high temperature.

If these rules are not followed, you risk poisoning with harmful components of the raw materials used and even arrange a short circuit of the device. As a result of this, you will have to make not only expensive repairs with replacement parts, but also purchase a new microwave oven.

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Reuse of damaged plate

We advise you not to rush to purchase a new mica. It is not for nothing that microwave manufacturers use it as a part for heating products. This material meets all the necessary requirements, and most importantly - it is inexpensive and easy to buy.

If you didn’t know, then we want to please you with important information - it is quite possible to reuse a mica plate burnt on one side, using simple manipulations in practice:

1. First of all, carefully remove the old panel.
2. Now we clean it of fat, dirt, burning.
3. Turn it with the back to you.
4. We make new holes for fixing it on the wall of the microwave oven.
5. We put the mica in its original place and again fasten it with bolts.
6. If desired, we enamel the surface.

The above steps may extend the operation of the device for a while. In case of severe burning, it is better to immediately replace the damaged plate with a new one.

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Plastic mica panel

Many home craftsmen and professional service center employees use plastic as an alternative to replacing mica in a microwave oven. This is quite possible for the following reasons:

• The heat-resistant panel made of safe food-grade plastic is stronger than the factory mica material.
• A plastic part will last you longer than the previous assembly of the device.

Important! Unfortunately, despite the advantages of a plastic plate, this method is not suitable for everyone. Safe food and heat-resistant plastic is expensive, and finding it is not so easy. In any case, it is better to buy a suitable plastic once than constantly spend money on repairing a broken device.

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Mica Replacement

So, we come to the most important thing - replacing the tracks with our own hands. Even the most inexperienced home master can handle this task. Regardless of the material you choose, the progress will look like this:

1. Unscrew and remove the damaged panel.
2. We rinse and clean it of dirt.
3. We cut out a new part from the purchased mica or plastic, applying the old one as a stencil.
4. Now we make holes for fastening the mica inside the microwave.
5. We grind the resulting part to remove all irregularities.
6. We fasten it to its former place.
7. We check the operation of the microwave oven by putting some product in it. We turn on the device at full power and wait for the timer to turn off. If the food warmed up well, then you did everything right.

Now you know how to act in case of damage to the mica plate in the microwave. Today we told you about the problem itself, about the causes of its occurrence and how to resolve it. And with the help of our instructions and the video below, you can quickly and easily perform all the steps yourself.